Grace

It doesn't take long when speaking of human brokenness to stumble on this mysterious and delightful word: grace.  We read, "God comes to each of us--even when we do not know we need God--precisely because God loves us. God's loving approach invites us to turn around--repent--and see God's love anew.  This is what Christians call grace."

I've had people ask over the years just what is this grace? Instead of trying to define grace, I have always found it easier to describe what grace looks like in action.  I am reminded of something Barbara Brown Taylor wrote:

That’s what Christians are for—people of the Way—who are on that Way whether they are in Church or not. The Church can reach those whose lives are breaking down simply by forming Christians who know how to practice compassion, how to listen, how to withhold judgment, how to bake casseroles, how to look after other people’s children when those people are too confused or grief-stricken to do it themselves, how to give away their money and their time without expecting any direct return, how to be quiet with people in a noisy world, how to see God in the lost and the least, how to work for justice instead of just talking about it, how to make decisions that will benefit the widest number of people, how to swallow bitterness and choose peace, how to love God so much that they see God in every person they meet. Church is not a building. It is a community of people who know how to do these things and do them ...

In this description, if you've ever truly met these people of Jesus' Way, then you will know the profound reality of grace upon grace. And you will want to share that grace, that abundance, in service to others.

In the person of Jesus we find the opposite of the far removed, neatly groomed church person!  Instead we are invited to sit in the darkness, get into the mess of peoples' lives. Jesus talks with sinners, eats with tax collectors, talks to women, has his feet washed, washes others' feet, touches the sick, gets into the nitty gritty of this life in every way imaginable. Sure, who among us does not love to go out to eat and to be served?  But, Jesus tells us the truly important people in life are the ones doing the service, not the ones paying for it.  This is wholly contrary to our culture.

Real grace and service flows from love and from being able to give to another without counting the measure.  I am always saddened when folks in church get mad, or family members get angry with one another, and say something like "and after all I have done for you/this church!" Service is not about keeping score. You give, let go, and forget. This is hard to do in a culture that measures everything, even relationships, in terms of power.

There comes a freedom and graceful satisfaction in giving and letting go, in being able to do for another and enjoy the inner fruits of that satisfaction. I believe the more we do this the more we groom ourselves as followers of Jesus: this is the primary action of those walking the Way. While the business world measures us by our productivity and capability, and throws us away when we do not measure up, the people who follow Jesus draw near to those who dwell in darkness, who walk through the valley of death, and we wait, we serve, we love.

How might we better find this inner stewardship and the delight of grace as we march to Easter? How might we better root ourselves in the freedom of serving?  

May we not count the cost of discipleship as it is measured by this world and our churches. May we know the cost of discipleship in God's unfolding kingdom, an energy and wisdom which propels us into this sacred moment and the ones to come.